Share and Learn- SharePoint

SharePoint CU install

Recently I had to upgrade SharePoint 2013 servers with September 2016 CU. Before we start talking anything about this make sure you have SharePoint 2013 SP1 is installed as this is a prerequisite for this CU.

September 2016 CU build number is 15.0.4859.1000. It fixed the issues described in the below articles.

If you are on track to make your SharePoint hybrid then I would highly recommend updating your farm with this CU as it has all the goodies required for a fast track hybrid install.

Always check the current SP/CU status before you start patching Sharepoint. I found that our server DB configuration was no compatible so had to fix that before moving forward. Below is a common error you might see at central admin->upgrade and migration -> DB upgrade status.

error: SharePoint 2013 Database is in compatibility range and upgrade is recommended

To Fix this issue, lunch SP management shell with farm admin account and run

” psconfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -wait ” Remember that this is a b2b upgrade and not a v2v. Which means if you are upgrading from one version of SP to other you will use ” psconfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace v2v -wait”. For RTM upgrades you will use b2b.

Before you take any other step MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL THE BACKUPS. In case CU messes something on the server there is no way to roll back. You have to rely on your backups only. Snapshots are life savers.

CU upgrade is a two-step process. First you run the CU exe and then you run the SharePoint configuration wizard.

Now that your current farm is all set we are ready to run the upgrade. Download the CU files on to your server from KB3118279

You need to download the files on all the servers in the farm. SharePoint CU should be installed on all the servers in the farm. Of course, you would not worry about the DB server at this point. The recommended order is to run on the server where the central admin is installed, then all other app servers and then all the WFE servers. I was able to proceed in this order with no issues. Once you copy over all the files, run the EXE. This will take a while maybe an hour or more. After installation is done then check status at upgrade and migration->check product and patch installation status. If there are no errors then you are good to move to other servers. Repeat the process on all other servers. After this process is done on all other servers then you are good to run configuration wizard. I use power shell for this. Get back to APP server where central admin is installed and run “https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53802 . “psconfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -wait” .

If you run the confi upgrade without wait you might see ” Unable to create a Service Connection Point in the current Active Directory domain. ” error and upgrade will fail. In most places Network admins may not want to keep track of the SharePoint installation packages and you can just skip that part. But if you do keep then below steps may help

Start ADSI Edit on your domain controller. Expand System, Right click in the white area then choose New > Object…Create a container, Type the container name Microsoft SharePoint Products and press Finish, Run SharePoint Configuration Wizard again.

You have to run with on all the servers. Now go to upgrade and migration -> review DB status. Also, do “check upgrade status” and hopefully you will see a success message.